Garry Thomas Sidebottom (21 November 1954 – 28 March 2019) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

player who played for the St Kilda,

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

and

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of City of Fitzroy, Fitzroy, the club is base ...

s in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) and Swan Districts in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL) during the 1970s and 1980s.

Career

Sidebottom was a powerful and fearless player ideal for playing at centre half forward or as a ruckman. A versatile forward good in the air and hard in the clinches, he kicked 228 goals while at Swan Districts and 104 goals while in the VFL. He played in the inaugural State of Origin team for

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

in 1977, when Western Australia defeated Victoria. In 1984 Sidebottom kicked six goals for Western Australia against Victoria in another famous victory to the Sandgropers. He represented Western Australia fifteen times in state games. He joined St Kilda in 1978 and was their leading goal kicker in 1979. In

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

, Sidebottom, while playing for St Kilda in a match against Hawthorn at Moorabbin was dazed when he was hit across his right eye by a flying beer can. He required medical attention before he was able to continue in the match. Despite captaining St Kilda in 1980, his contract was not renewed at the end of the season and he left the club to join Geelong in 1981. Sidebottom entered football folklore when he missed the

team bus to play in the 1981 Preliminary Final against Collingwood due to a breakdown in communications. His team-mate Peter Johnston took his place at the last minute, despite being told earlier he had not been selected, and went on to play despite having half a chicken and a bucket of chips along with a strawberry thickshake for lunch, and having smoked half a pack of Winfield Blue cigarettes on the way to VFL Park. To this day, many Geelong locals call the place where the road from Lara enters the Princes Highway "Sidey's Corner". This is where Garry and the team bus were supposed to meet up, but never did. In April 1982 he was suspended by Geelong due to an unsatisfactory attitude. Despite suggestions that he may return to play for Swan Districts in the WAFL, he remained in Victoria and signed for , making his debut in July 1982. In 1985 he left Fitzroy to rejoin Swan Districts, where he was their leading goal kicker and won his second best and fairest award, nine years after his previous award, in 1976. Sidebottom returned to Swan Districts as a coach of the reserves side in 2007. He is the older brother of Allan Sidebottom who also played for Swan Districts, St Kilda and Fitzroy. He was inducted into the

West Australian Football Hall of Fame The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise significant contributors to Australian rules football in Western Australia. Candidates are players, coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives. The induct ...

in 2011. He died in March 2019 from cancer.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sidebottom, Garry 1954 births 2019 deaths Swan Districts Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players Geelong Football Club players Fitzroy Football Club players Western Australian State of Origin players Australian rules footballers from Western Australia West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century Australian sportsmen